2014 declared production year

Islamabad: The government has declared 2014 as the ‘Year for Production and Quality’ to advance economic performance of the country, Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal.

Mr Iqbal was speaking at the inaugural session of the 16th Sustainable Development Conference (SDC) organised by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI). The purpose of this conference was to bring together policy and practice communities to interact and recommend workable solutions to emerging challenges in South Asia.

The development minister shared the ‘Vision 2025’ plan in detail and stressed that its implementation will usher true development in Pakistan.

SDPI executive director Dr. Abid Suleri said that inaction on part of member states of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) has accelerated development challenges for each country individually as well as collectively.

Speaking on the future outlook of Pakistan’s economy, former finance minister Hafiz Pasha said that the country is “perilously poised at the knife-edge”.

He said that a number of economic challenges are due to non-economic factors, including terrorism, rising load-shedding, insurgency in Balochistan, and rise in sectarian violence.